A Trip To Manchester-By-The-Sea

The open sea!

After spending three months in the Opinion section, I will be spending my remaining time at the Globe pitching stories to the Features section of the newspaper.

The first story I was assigned to is a story on teachers in Massachusetts and how they’re dealing with hate speech incidents in their schools. The Globe has reported on this before, see here and here, but the Features editor wanted me to talk to teachers directly.

I contacted teachers all over the state, but I also wanted to sit in on a training with teachers in order have some color for the piece. So off I went to Manchester-By-The-Sea!

Me frowning in confusion. How can it be so cold and so sunny at the same time? #NewEnglandDilemmas

For the record, going anywhere to the north of Boston during the winter season is not something I recommend. I know everyone complains about the weather in New England and as someone who has lived in continental Europe (where it also gets pretty cold) her entire life, I thought it wouldn’t be a massive shock. I was wrong. But weather should not be a hindrance to working on a story!

I did have time before my slot at the school to go to the beach. Walking around on the sand in my puffer coat and thick winter scarf was fun and warmed me up after I sat shivering in the train from Boston.

I had contacted the school ahead of time and told them I was coming. The secretary there was so excited to have me, and kept saying “It’s like you’re a celebrity, we’ve been talking about the Globe reporter who’s coming in all day!”

The point of me being there was to sit in on a training for teachers organized by the Anti Defamation League. The ADL training aims to give them the opportunity to discuss how to tackle difficult topics such as hate speech, racist or intolerant speech in their classroom and encourages them to openly talk to their students about this.

I really enjoyed spending the day away from Boston and hope to get more opportunities to venture out of Boston while I’m here.

Una Hajdari is the 2018 Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow.

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